Friday, November 23, 2012

Weeds
are one of the major constraints to rice production in sub-Saharan Africa.
Without control, they can cause yield losses ranging from 28% to 89%.

One
major contributing factor is the lack of knowledge and information on
labor-saving weed control and management technologies among farmers and
extension workers.

The
jumpstart project on ‘Building local capacities in weed management for
rice-based systems’ led by the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), sought to
remedy this by creating awareness on available and appropriate labor-saving and
efficient weed management practices to boost the crop’s production.

It
targeted research and development (R & D) partners, the private sector, and
farmers involved in rice-based production systems in Tanzania.

R&D professionals
and students

The project conducted
a one-day training at the Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA) in Morogoro,
Tanzania, for 22 R&D professionals and 15 weed science students on weed
control and management practices and on the use of an online interactive weed
identification tool, AFROweeds.

The workshop also
aimed at enhancing networking between national and regional weed scientists by
introducing the open-access online African weed science network Weedsbook.
This network includes researchers from international and national research
organizations, government extension officers, university lecturers and
students.

“Weed is the number
one constraint in rice production in many countries in Africa and awareness on
sustainable and cost-effective ways to control them in rice-based systems is
low. In this project, we wanted to not only build capacity but also enhance the
network of weed scientists and other people interested in weeds for easy
knowledge and information sharing among each other,” Jonne Rodenburg, a weed
scientist at AfricaRice and the research team leader, explained.

The project further organized a training for
blacksmiths drawn from all over the country on fabrication of rotary weeders to
control weeds of lowland rice so as to make them widely available and at
competitive prices for the farmers.

Currently, farmers mostly rely on hand or hoe
weeding and both are extremely time and energy-consuming. The rotary
weeders are hand-operated devices that can be easily manufactured by local
blacksmiths using locally available materials. They are very popular in Asian
countries but in Africa, they are only found in Madagascar.

Three new types of weeders were fabricated
during the workshop and two were selected for promotion in the country after
subjecting them to further on-farm testing with the farmers. Technical drawings
are currently being produced which will enable even more blacksmiths to produce
these weeders.

“We wanted to build local capacities to
manufacture locally adapted rotary weeders for resource-poor farmers in
Tanzania. We showed the diversity of mechanical weeders and that they can be
adjusted to suit local conditions or preferences of the end-user (the farmer),”
Rodenburg said.

The project has also
developed two farmer-to-farmer videos on labor-saving weed management
technologies—the rotary-hoe weeder in lowland rice and safe and efficient use
of herbicides.

“With the rotary-hoe
weeders, the weeding labor is reduced by up to 60─65% while the herbicides
reduce it by over 80%. However, farmers do not always use the herbicides
correctly and this can impact negatively on their health and the environment,
hence the need for the videos,” Rodenburg said.

The videos shall be
translated into four languages and distributed to at least 10,000 farmers and
extension workers from the rice-growing areas in sub-Saharan Africa.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Rice is playing a key role
in providing food security for the poorest categories of rural and urban
populations in Africa. It is the leading provider of food calories in West Africa
and in Madagascar, and is now the second largest source of food energy in
sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.

AfricaRice is pleased to
announce the release of its Annual Report 2011, which provides compelling
highlights of the work carried out by the Center and its partners to
sustainably boost the rice sector in Africa by bringing
rice research and development to the aid of Africa’s poor.

Entitled
“A new rice research for development strategy for Africa,” AfricaRice’s Annual Report
features a special focus on the Center’s new 10-year Strategic Plan, which will
guide the implementation of its activities to realize Africa’s tremendous rice
potential.

The
Report demonstrates the strategic vision and the dynamism of the Center in
terms of research, partnership and policy advocacy.

It
highlights the progress made in using molecular approaches to strengthen rice breeding
programs in Africa, developing a systematic approach to varietal evaluation, building
Africa’s rice breeding capacity and addressing the bottlenecks affecting the
production and deployment of improved rice seed across the continent.

Research
briefs on rice value chains, small-scale mechanization and consumer preferences
for rice attributes show the shift in focus of the Center’s strategy from
supply-driven research to more demand- or market-driven research.

Other
features include a case study of Ethiopia’s remarkable rice boom and a profile
of Canada, which has been an important donor of AfricaRice for over 20 years.
Updates on the Center’s training activities and publications are also provided.

AfricaRice
is an intergovernmental association of African member countries and one of the
15 international agricultural research Centers that are members of the CGIAR
Consortium. It is also a major player in the CGIAR Research Program on Rice –
the Global Rice Science Partnership (GRiSP) – taking the lead in GRiSP
activities across Africa.

AfricaRice headquarters is based in Côte d’Ivoire. Staff are located in Côte d’Ivoire and also in AfricaRice Research Stations in Benin, Liberia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania. For more information visit: www.AfricaRice.org

About CGIAR

CGIAR is a global research partnership for a food-secure future. CGIAR science is dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

Its research is carried out by 15 CGIAR Centers in close collaboration with hundreds of partners, including national and regional research institutes, civil society organizations, academia, development organizations and the private sector. www.cgiar.org